6 teens killed, 2 hurt in northeast US SUV crash

WARREN — A speeding sport utility vehicle taken without permission and carrying eight teenagers crashed into a guardrail, flipping over into a swampy pond, killing five boys and a woman, state police said.

The Honda Passport veered off the left side of a road Sunday morning and overturned near the city of Warren, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) east of Cleveland, Lt. Anne Ralston said. Investigators say it came to rest upside down in the swamp and sank with five of the victims trapped inside.

A sixth, who was thrown from the SUV during the crash, was found under it when the vehicle was taken out of the water.

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The two boys who survived escaped from the submerged vehicle and ran a quarter-mile to a home to call emergency services, the highway patrol said.

Highway Patrol Lt. Brian Holt said at an evening news conference that speed was a factor, although investigators were still trying to determine the speed at the time of the accident.

No one in the vehicle owned by a nearby resident had permission to take it, but there were no theft reports, Holt said.

Located near the Pennsylvania state line, Warren is a mostly blue-collar city that was hit by the decline of U.S. steel mills; it has more than 41,000 residents in the industrial Mahoning Valley region.

After the news conference, the gates of an impound lot were opened to show the wreck, with windows smashed and extensive damage to the front end, hood and roof.

Ralston didn’t know where the teens were headed when the crash happened at about 7 a.m. and Holt said later it wasn’t clear how long they had been out.

“All I know is my baby is gone,” said Derrick Ray, who came to the crash site after viewing his 15-year-old son Daylan’s body at the county morgue. He said he knew that his son, a talented football player who was looking forward to playing in high school, was out with friends, but didn’t know their plans.

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A pile of blue, green and copper-red stuffed bears grew at a makeshift memorial at the crash site along a two-lane road tightly bordered with guardrails on either side in an industrial area. The sport utility vehicle had sheared off tall cattails along the guardrail.

There were also notes at the memorial, including a letter from Daylan Ray’s 12-year-old half-sister, Mariah Bryant, who said she had learned they were related only in the past year.

“It hurts, it really does, because they are so young and, like, they could have had so much more to life,” she said. “We just really started getting close, and it’s hard to believe he’s gone.”

Fire Department Capt. Bill Monrean said a cold water rescue team was deployed to the scene and got five teens out of the submerged vehicle.

“Being a cold water rescue situation, cold water extends life,” Monrean told AP Radio. “We knew we had a chance; even being in there a while.”

Two of the teens, both 15, were brought to a hospital in full cardiac arrest, St. Joseph Health Center nursing supervisor Julie Gill said, and were pronounced dead there. She said they were treated for hypothermic drowning trauma, indicating they had been submerged in cold water.

The two who survived, 18-year-old Brian Henry and 15-year-old Asher Lewis were treated for bruising and other injuries and released, she said.

All those killed were ages 14 to 19, authorities said. State police identified them as 19-year-old driver Alexis Cayson; Andrique Bennett, 14; Brandon Murray, 17; and Kirklan Behner, Ramone White and Ray, all 15. The Highway Patrol said Crayson was the only female in the vehicle.

Rickie Bowling, 18, a friend of Behner, sobbed at the crash scene as she recalled his playfulness and reputation as a cut-up.

“He was one of a kind,” she said. “Everyone knew him in the neighborhood. In school, he always made everyone laugh.”

Jasmine McClintock, 22, a friend of one of the victims, said she was troubled by the question of what the victims were doing out at that hour, not knowing if they had been out all night or left home early.

“That’s the part that boggles my mind. It’s like on a Sunday if you’re not going to church, what are you doing at 7 a.m. out driving,” she asked.

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